So, what do you do during the "Rope Drop Wait"?

[marshallandcartersmo]

Everything I read about HSM says "get there at least 30 minutes before opening of the park. Some things I've read says to be there 45 minutes early.......
How do you keep your family (kids) from going crazy while standing in line amongst a mob of people for that long????????

 

[asmit4]

Same thing you do when you are waiting in line- you just wait. 30-45 minutes goes quick- you talk about the plans for the day, look around at the entrance and discuss how it looks- like at MK, you can see the castle in the distance so you get excited about that - at least I do! LOL!

 

[inkkognito]

I do rope drop solo many times and find that other guests tend to be quite chatty. It's rare that someone doesn't start talking to me (usually other WDW fanatics) and the time goes by very quickly.

 

[Zippa D Doodah]

We love the wait; it builds character.

 

[Subrbnmommy]

We usually arrive 15-30 minutes before rope drop. This last trip, we decided to save time and money and bring our own breakfast food. Our DD happily ate her poptart, orange juice & yogourt tube while waiting for rope drop.

 

[Metsoskil]

Sometimes you can pin trade with castmembers who are doing crowd control. That'll kill a few minutes.

 

[marshallandcartersmo]

We usually arrive 15-30 minutes before rope drop. This last trip, we decided to save time and money and bring our own breakfast food. Our DD happily ate her poptart, orange juice & yogourt tube while waiting for rope drop.

That's a really good idea!! We'll have 4 kids w/us (7,5,4,1) and I'm just worried about the "why aren't we going in"s I'll be getting from them (and their parents). Food sounds like the answer.

 

[Bill From PA]

The last 2 Disney vacations we've fallen into the habit of getting to the line minutes before the turnstiles open, and getting there much earlier makes very little difference in getting to a given ride early. We'll probably stick with this plan, so there's not much time to chat and not much time to kill.

Bill From PA

 

[stky6]

Stretch...so you can outrun all the other people waiting at rope drop

 

[MainStMandy]

Whatever you do, please wait for the CM's to remove the rope and don't run. I have a horror story about being run over by about 50-75 guests who couldn't wait for the rope to be dropped during WWTBM pin release

 

[Indio]

We've only done rope drop once - we do EMH otherwise, we just get there just after rope drop. The one time we did it (many years ago), all I remember is standing there sweating at 8 am!! My husband was griping that he was already ringing wet and we hadn't even got in the park yet!!

 

[nala87]

At Ak rope drop they usually bring out Wes Plam the talking palm tree, so while standing in line I usually watch it interact with everyone.
MK and DHS rope drops I just go over our plan with DH and direct him on which way to go. He won't admit it now, but he really liekd the excitment of being among the first on a ride for the day

 

[Sleeping Becca]

We get there about 15 to 20 min prior and still get a pretty good jump on the crowds. If we get to MK too early, then we can't see the train station welcome show.

We used to apply our sunscreen while waiting, now that we have aerosol we do that in our room. Usually in the morning we are so excited to be there, we don't notice the wait all that much.

 

[nemomama]

I'm always concerned about this too, but it's never an issue...the kids are just so excited to be at Disney World! They usually just relax in the stroller and we all talk, go over our touring plans and get ready for the mad dash to our first ride!

 

[LisaInNc]

We make friends with the people around us, that is when I give my DD the pins she is going to use for trading for that day and she organizes her lanyard (this is serious business). We sometimes have breakfast. The possibilities are endless, we are in Disney, it's the start of the day what could be better?

 

[skier_pete]

Here's a fun thing to do - look around at the people and try to tell which ones are at the start of their trip (all bouncy and excited) and which ones have been there a while (kinda draggy). We always go in on our last day looking at the fresh people going "Remember when we had energy left?"

Seriously, talk to people...one of the great things about Disney is that you have something in common with every stranger there. If you don't want to do that, review park strategy....waiting 20 minutes for rope-drop is always the easiest wait of the day to me...the parks not open so I'm not missing anything while waiting in line.

SkierPete

 

[reelmom]

I bring items that I have purchased at the dollar store and Target one dollar aisles. They have mini coloring books, usually Disney, and little puzzles, etc. The kids do those at rope drop and it makes the time go by faster. Then, I throw them away as soon as we are in, if the kids don't want to keep them. I will be bringing some books now that DS6 is reading.

 

[Kate and Pete]

Everything I read about HSM says "get there at least 30 minutes before opening of the park. Some things I've read says to be there 45 minutes early.......
How do you keep your family (kids) from going crazy while standing in line amongst a mob of people for that long????????

I have to keep DH (30) happy while in line, and while he loves WDW, he's spoiled by TGM and HATES lines! I agree with another poster - feed them breakfast! My DH gets his poptarts, granola bar, trail mix...whatever, and a big bottle of water. Then he chats with the CMs (generally retirees, as we go in Feb.) - he loves it!

 

[mmmbop]

I've only been to rope drop once... and that was because a friend drove up to see me No doubt you wouldn't see my butt out of bed that early if she hadn't come up!!

I spent my time trying to find her (Gotta love cell phones and the convenience!) But I couldn't get close to her, since... well.... who wants to let a stranger two feet closer than you when rope drop is 10 minutes away?!


All I remember is that we hit Jungle Cruise, and had the funniest guy ever. Seriously, who isn't sick of the same ol spiel? This guy made it really, truly entertaining. So if any of you see Dave from the UK manning the boat, you're in for a real treat!!
And then we tried Pirates but it was closed so we got a FP for SplM, then went to BTMRR and my friend had to get a photo of the empty queue.

 

[Nancy for Disney]

The last 2 Disney vacations we've fallen into the habit of getting to the line minutes before the turnstiles open, and getting there much earlier makes very little difference in getting to a given ride early. We'll probably stick with this plan, so there's not much time to chat and not much time to kill.

Bill From PA

We are relying on Disney Transportation. What time to you recommend that we leave the resort to get there just in time to see any preopening shows but not so early that we are stuck waiting for 45 minutes? My husband and I always get into discussions about what time to leave. I hate getting places too early and then you just have to wait.